Thumbs up go to El Burrito Express for serving a great, cheap burrito that does not drip!
El Burrito Express
1812 Divisadero @ Bush
415-776-4246
Mon – Sat: 11am – 9pm
Who can beat meat burritos for $3.50 (and this is after they’ve recently raised prices from $3.10!)? Not only that, they don’t skimp on the ingredients — you get a normally-sized flour tortilla (you can pick a flavor) with rice, beans, guacamole, onions, tomatoes, and your choice of grilled steak, grilled pork, grilled chicken, or the pull chicken. Orders come with a bag of chips (though I have always had to ask for the little container of salsa to go along with it).
The size of the regular burrito is just right, if not slightly more than enough, for one meal. Thankfully, the burrito is not crammed full of rice (again, a NorCal anomaly, in my opinion).
I also sampled a Bronco Burrito (also for $3.50), which had “pot beans” (I couldn’t really tell the difference), sliced avocados (instead of the guac), onions and tomatoes. Also delicious. I also didn’t get giddy or have additional “munchies” so I’m not really sure what pot beans are all about.
I’m a big fan of the grilled meat, and my one problem with a lot of the other “greatest hits” burritos in the Mission is that when the beans (or some of the meat) are scooped onto the tortilla, there is a ton of liquid/broth/whatever that also gets ladled onto the tortilla. This ALWAYS leads to burrito leakage through the tin foil…and a soppy disintegrating remaining half of a burrito. Ech. (How come the burritos in Southern California don’t do that??)
El Burrito Express avoids all that in the above burritos, but I did experience a little bit of salsa and bean moisture on my Grilled Steak Meat ($2.50) and Avocado ($2.50) soft tacos. I was expecting the traditional Baja California soft taco — grilled & chopped flank steak, sprinkled with fresh white onion and cilantro, and accompanied by tiny lime wedges. (If anyone knows where I can get that in SF, let me know!! I am thinking now that only a mobile taco stand could possible offer this…)
Other friends have recommended that I try the Expresso Burrito ($5-ish?), which involves a larger tortilla, rice, beans, and cheese, but then throws the guac, “sauce” , onions, tomatoes, and more cheese on top. However…that’s a little out of my grubgirl range. Maybe next time when I’m splurging.
The establishment is also clean, and the walls are painted in vibrant colors — eating in the restaurant is not a traumatizing experience.
Be forewarned – not everything there falls into the “Budget” range of the grub experience — there are seafood combinations and special or dinner dishes that pushed the $6-9 range (even a special veggie burrito!), but you may not mind that.
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